


Walk Tall With Pride

by insertwittyname



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Trans Character, Coming Out, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, No Angst, Nonbinary Character, Trans Male Character, fuck fics about transphobia i'm making them happy damn it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-18 09:49:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13097553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insertwittyname/pseuds/insertwittyname
Summary: Magnus, Kravitz, and Taako are all trans, and have different experiences with gender, expression, and transitioning. This only helps Angus more.





	Walk Tall With Pride

**Author's Note:**

> Every time someone says a character can't be trans I only make them more trans, and this is what happens. Also I'm tired of reading about trans stories with transphobia so there's none here. Yay!

Magnus was trans.

He didn’t always know, not like the stereotype. For a long time, he thought he was just extremely masculine. He loved sports and woodworking and found girls just as attractive as guys (and nonbinary people, but he didn’t know they existed until he was an adult). He kept his hair short and if the dresses his mom made him happened to get ruined within one wear, maybe she’d have better luck giving them to one of his sisters who didn’t enjoy rushing into fights or playing with the dogs in the mud.

It wasn’t until Magnus was already eighteen that he started to put the pieces together. At first, it was a joke of sorts between him and his friends, one that started when they were in the process of getting very drunk.

“Man, you’re so fucking big.” Bayde mused as he gripped Magnus’s bicep, squeezing the firm muscle, “How did I never realize?”

“Maybe ‘cause you’ve known me your whole life? I’ve always been big.” Magnus laughed and shoved him away, the other man looking up and laughing from the floor, “I was always the tall one in class.”

Eva rolled her eyes at the two of them as she took another long drink of her ale, “But you’re huge. People always ask if you’re my boyfriend and not my girlfriend.”

Magnus shrugged, “I mean, same thing, I guess. I don’t mind.” He finished off his ale and got up to get more, wobbling a little as he did so.

“I don’t either, it’s just funny.” She leaned over the back of her chair to look at him with a little smirk, “Would you rather be my boyfriend?”

That made him stop. He’d never considered it. After a few moments of pondering it, he felt a hand on his shoulder and snapped out of it to look at his girlfriend, “Sorry.”

“You’re okay. Do you want me to call you my boyfriend from now on?”

Magnus nodded, looking back down at his drink, “I…Yeah, we can try it.”

Bayde came up behind him and clapped a hand hard on his back, “Well, we gotta get you a new name, then. Something tough like you.”

Eva laughed a little, “So not Bayde?”

“Fuck off.” He stuck his tongue out at her, making her laugh more. Magnus chuckled with them, “What about Destroyer?”

“Oh yeah, the softest gi—guy I know should totally be called Destroyer.” Eva rolled her eyes.

“Fine. There’s Punisher…Warrior…I dunno, Tom?”

Magnus laughed and nudged past them, sitting back down and taking a long sip of his ale. As Eva plopped down next to him and Bayde sat on the floor in front of the couch, he said, “How about Magnus?”

Eva smiled at him, “Yeah, that fits. Large, great. Just like you.” Magnus smiled wider at that as he pulled her a little closer to him.

Large. Great. He would be a great man. He would live up to his new name.

-

Kravitz was trans.

He, however, did know from a young age. He didn’t outright reject femininity, knowing there was a power in it that was personified in his mother, a fierce woman who was determined to raise seven children on her own. He liked having long hair and wearing nail polish, but being called a little girl made him feel wrong. Being a “young lady” when he was caught reading by the fire after he was supposed to be in bed, or when he touched his late father’s guitar without permission ached inside, his stomach dropping and making him wish he was like his twin brother: a “young man.”

It was his first day helping his mom in her shop, ten-year-old hands now doing their best to replace the larger, more sure ones of his older brother who had left home to start his own life like his five other siblings had. Kravitz loved running his fingers over the fabrics his mother sold to local tailors, imagining himself in fancy suits made from them; suits his family couldn’t afford even if his father was still alive to bring in more money. The boy longed to wear things that weren’t passed down from his siblings, bright reds instead of the dull gray-red of his oldest sister’s former dress, sharp midnight black instead of the faded darkness of his leggings. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder and a soft, “Are you here with me? This nice customer needs something.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. What did you need?”

At the end of the day, Kravitz and his brother sat around their fireplace, the two boys on her lap and nibbling on the cookies she had indulged them on as a reward for their hard work as she read to them. After the chapter was over and his brother was already fast asleep, Kravitz looked up at her and whispered, “Mama, I don’t wanna be a girl.”

“Why not? Girls are so much stronger, you know that.” She nudged him, a little smile on her lips.

“I just don’t feel like one. I don’t like being a girl, I wanna be a boy. I am a boy. Like my brothers.”

His mother’s smile faded a bit as she looked down at the fire, “Oh.” She was quiet for a few moments, and Kravitz felt even worse now than when he was called the wrong terms. Eventually, she nodded and looked at him again, “Okay, you’re a boy. Would you like a new name?”

He nodded a little, “Yes, please.”

“Then what would you like to be called?”

The boy paused, never having thought he would make it this far. Even if she did allow him a new name, he assumed she would pick one for him like she did when he was born. There were so many boy’s names to choose from, too. A glance at his father’s guitar helped him gave him an idea, and he smiled softly, “Kravitz. Like papa.”

He looked up at his mother, who was now crying. She smiled and kissed his head, “Of course, sweetheart.” Kravitz smiled and rested his head on her shoulder again.

-

Taako was trans.

Gender was stupid. How could you expect every single person alive to fit so neatly into one of two categories their entire life? Or at all? It was completely unrealistic and Taako wanted no part of it from a young age.

Lup coming out helped him, too. Having a sister so open and sure of herself made Taako confident enough to tell her that he was okay with anything she wanted to call him. They shared the dresses their aunt made for her until she got the point to start making matching ones for both of them. Lup braided his hair as he grew it out, and he helped trim hers late at night while their caretakers slept (and laughed as they demanded to know why the two of them had done that to her beautiful blonde curls).

As the two got older, Lup became more uncomfortable than she was before, and it worried Taako. He didn’t want his sister to be upset about how things were changing, so he stayed up all night finding some sort of potion or spell that would make things better for her. When he found one that would change her body, he woke her up to show her, excited to finally have the solution. It took a few days to gather (steal) the ingredients they needed, another to brew the potion perfectly. Lup took a sip and…nothing changed. Taako went back to the book, angry and confused. Things would change over time like any other puberty.

“Did you want to drink some?” Lup asked, offering him the cup.

Taako took the cup and looked at it, thinking. He didn’t get uncomfortable with his body like she did. He was indifferent to it most of the time, it was just a vessel for his soul to move through the world in. Sure, the looks he got when people couldn’t tell if he was a guy or girl could get annoying, but they usually made him feel good. Let them question, it made it easier for him to know who he shouldn’t waste his time with. If they couldn’t understand who he was, it wasn’t worth it.

So Taako didn’t drink it. There were times when he regretted it, small bouts of dysphoria that didn’t last long but were too bad to ignore. Over time, he taught himself how not to care like when he was little. He talked through it with Lup when he had her, pushed it down when he didn’t. He held his head high, used different pronouns with different people, expressed himself however he damn well felt like.

Taako wasn’t going to let others dictate how he could or should be himself, nor would he hide in the closet. Taako was good out here.

-

Angus was trans.

Telling his dads made him nervous. He knew Taako and Magnus were trans, as well as Lup, and clearly Kravitz didn’t mind, but the pit still sat at the bottom of the boy’s stomach as he planned how he would tell them. Would they still think he was too young to know? He’d known his whole life, but there was always at least one person who didn’t believe it, and he was scared he was in for an unpleasant surprise.

Turns out, the careful planning on finding the right moment, reading from a memorized and pain-stakingly organized script, and being ready to defend himself if need be all went to waste one morning. Taako was half-asleep as he and Kravitz, who was remarkably wide awake for how early it was, were making breakfast for all of them. Angus was reading one of his textbooks and sitting across the table from Magnus when the boy looked up, took a deep breath, and stated, “I’m a trans boy.”

All three of the adults looked at him, confused at that sudden statement. Taako was the first to speak, now slightly more alert than before as he turned back to the stove, “We know, pumpkin, but thanks for telling us anyway.”

“You…you knew?” 

Magnus nodded, smiling, “Yeah, we did. Lucretia told us after you were recruited. Said we should know in case you needed our help with anything.”

“Oh…” He frowned and looked back down at his book, “And you’re okay with it even though I’m still a kid?”

“I don’t see why we wouldn’t be.” Kravitz said with a soft smile, setting a glass of orange juice in front of the boy, “I was about your age when I told my mother.”

Angus looked at him in disbelief, “You are too?”

Kravitz chuckled and nodded, “I am, I just don’t usually tell very many people.”

The boy thought back even to the first time he met the reaper, trying to find things he may have overlooked despite his detective skills. It wasn’t obvious, not like Magnus who had the scars on his chest or Taako who was known to say gender was “fucking fake as shit, my man.” Had he just not been paying enough attention?

Angus was brought out of his thoughts by a kiss on the top of his head, “Angus, are you with us?”

“Sorry, sir?” He blinked up at Kravitz, who had moved to let Taako put the food on the table.

“I asked how many pancakes you wanted.” Taako said softly, but knelt down to be more at eye level with the boy, “Are you okay, Ango? You’re not beating yourself up about not knowing about Krav, are you?”

The boy shrugged, “I’m a detective, I should know these things.”

Taako shook his head, “He’s quiet about it. I didn’t even know until we spent the night together for the first time and saw he was binding.”

Kravitz took his seat next to Angus at the table, “You’re still the best boy detective in the world, love.”

Angus smiled at that and let Taako put a few pancakes on his plate. Just as he was about to take a bite, he realized something, “Kravitz, since you can change how you look, do you make yourself look more masculine?”

“I don’t really.” He shrugged, “I’m fortunate to at least look androgynous enough to not be mistaken for a woman, but otherwise I don’t see much point in it. I don’t get much dysphoria, and I spend most of my time away from home as a skeleton anyway.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Angus nodded thoughtfully as he started eating.

Taako put a hand on Angus’s, “Do you want to change how you look? You still have another year or so before you probably should, but still.”

“Yeah, it’ll be better to do it early if that’s what you want.” Magnus said around a mouthful of pancakes, “If not, that’s valid, too.”

“You know what else is valid? Closing your fucking mouth when you chew, fucking sow.” Taako glared at Magnus and hit his arm before looking back at Angus, “But really, we can start planning to help you if you know whether you want to do it. You can take time to decide, too.”

Angus was quiet as he and the other two started eating, mulling it over a bit. Once he was about halfway finished with his first pancake, he looked at Taako and said more confidently than he had felt about being trans and transitioning in a long time, “I think I’m going to wait to decide when the time comes and see how I feel then.”

“Cool. Now eat, we have to get you to school in twenty minutes and no way am I running to get there today.” Taako responded with a raised eyebrow as he took a sip of his coffee, “And I’m not carrying your soccer bag today, either. You wanted to be a jock, you pay the price, kid.”

The boy smiled at that and kept eating while Taako and Magnus discussed whether or not playing one sport technically made him a jock. Angus glanced at Kravitz after Taako said something about “if you sport, you’re a jock,” the reaper looking back at him and winking. Kravitz leaned over and whispered, “Thank you for telling us, by the way. I know how scary it can be, even to those we know will be understanding. You’re incredibly brave.”

“Thank you, sir.” Angus smiled as he got down from the table and took his plate to the sink. When he passed by Kravitz again on his way to get his things for school, he hugged him, “And thank you for telling me, too.”

“Of course. You’re not alone, there’s someone to guide you no matter what you choose.” Kravitz hugged him and gently kissed the boy’s head before letting him go, “Now, you should get ready for school or Taako won’t be very happy.”

“Yes, sir.” Angus nodded and left for his room to gather his things, smiling to himself out of joy and pride. With pretty much everyone in his family being trans, he would be okay. Kravitz was right, he wasn’t alone. Not anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope y'all liked this. As an untransitioned trans masc person who enjoys playing with masculinity and femininity, I love having more rep in all forms, so Krav and Mags are really fun to write about being trans with. Comments are welcome for critiques, screaming with me about how everyone in TAZ is trans, etc (also, if you know what I was going for with Krav's twin brother, let me know. Hint: I'm Greek pagan).
> 
> Thanks!


End file.
